NAME: Charles F. Northup RANK: PFC at this time. Discharged-SP4 BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army ACTIVE DUTY: March 1968-February 1978 Location: Long Binh Long Binh from Jan.69' to Jan.70' It was time for the Tet Offensive in 1969. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong banned together to try to take over all of South Vietnam at one time. There was major fighting all over the country. This would happen every year at about the same time. I was stationed on Long Binh Post which at that time had the distinction of being the worlds largest ammo dump in a combat zone. It was so large that it was almost like being stationed in the States. We had a PX, steam bath, USO club, the works. I was in the 632nd HEM (Heavy Equipment Maintenance) Company working as a mechanic. One evening after work we were called into a formation and told by the CO that a large group of North Vietnamese regulars has been spotted heading in our direction. We were also told what time to expect them to hit us. The direction they were coming from they would have to go through where an Armored unit was set up. Well this Armored unit which was about 5 miles out in front of us just opened the doors and let the North Vietnamese come through. The Armored unit then closed in behind them and followed them in to us. We had our main perimeter which was well secured with claymore mines, machine guns, individual rifles, grenades, flares, and plenty of troops to use all this stuff. 500 meters behind the main perimeter was a secondary perimeter with plenty of troops and there individual weapons. 500 meters behind that was my unit. Our job was to load ammo into clips for the guys out on the line. Well sure enough about 2:00 AM just as expected the North Vietnamese hit Long Binh Post. They did break through the main perimeter but the guys in the secondary perimeter were able to hold there ground and push them back out. Where I was at I could hear all the fighting and was shaking in my boots just hoping they would not break through the secondary perimeter.I was new to Vietnam and it was my very first alert. Well when they hit Long Binh they had the Armored unit behind them Long Binh in front of them and helicopter gun ships up over them. They didn't stand a chance. A whole Battalion of North Vietnamese regulars was completely wiped out along with a company size unit of Viet Cong. In fact one of the Viet Cong that was killed was the barber that had cut my hair just 1 day before that. American forces only lost 4 men. I mentioned the barber just to let you know that we could not trust anyone over there. We had Vietnamese civilians working on post . We always new ahead of time when we were going to be attacked because the civilians would refuse to come to work the days that we were attacked. ANOTHER STORY I don't remember what month it was but it was still 1969 at Long Binh Post. It was my turn to pull guard duty at night out on the main perimeter. There was 3 of us on duty in the same bunker. Looking at Long Binhs main perimeter from the enemies point of view he would have to go through the following in order to get on post. 1 row of concertina wire with trip flares. 1 row of tangle foot wire with trip flares. Another row of concertina wire with trip flares. 6 claymore mines per bunker. ( the bunkers were spaced approximately 100 yards apart. ) Each bunker had 3 men with there individual rifles, hand flares, grenade launcher, machine gun,field phone, and a detonator for the claymore mines. The other two guys I was with were sleeping because it was my turn for watch. (every 2 hours we traded off ). I started hearing something moving out in front of me. I sent up a couple of hand flares but could not see anything. I looked through the starlight scope which is a night vision device and still could not see anything. I got on the field phone and reported hearing movement but no visual. The guys in the bunkers on either side of me reported the same thing. We were given a 500 meter free fire meaning anything within 500 meters we could shoot first and ask questions later.Back then I had pretty good hearing so I was able to pinpoint where the movement was coming from. I shot in the general direction with the machine gun. The movement stopped and all was quiet the rest of the night. The next morning after it became daylight we were sent out in front of the perimeter to see if we could find anything. We did find a VC Sapper with about 6 holes in him. A sapper was highly trained to go through all of that wire without setting off any flares, disarm the claymore mines and then throw an explosive charge in the bunker and then go back out through the wire all within 2 minutes. When I saw where he was I realized that he was working his way toward my bunker. Thank god for good hearing at that time.